Chachapoyas

A documentary on PBS entitled " Carthage's Lost Warriors " made the case for a theory that Carthaginians escaping Roman conquest had successfully crossed the Atlantic Ocean and had, over the course of time, made their way up the Amazon River to a remote mountainous region of Peru known as Chachapoya. This theory struck a chord with me, for two reasons. First, as a teenager I had read everything available on Greek, Roman, and Carthaginian times. I remembered that the army of Hannibal was composed mainly of foreign troops, particularly Libyans, Iberian Celts, Gauls, and Balearic islanders (sling throwers). Second, I had long believed that there was strong evidence of pre-Columbian contact between Europe and the Americas. The Carthaginian's were of a seafaring Phoenician origin, and it was well documented in the ancient world that the Phoenicians had discovered a great " island " to the west of the Pillars of Hercules. Aside from extensive parallels between Chachapoya and the Old World in art work, cultural similarities still exist. For me, the most dramatic of the latter is the similarity of the sling in both Chachapoya and the Balearic Islands. The PBS documentary showed the current Balearic Islands champion demonstrating his skills impressively. That man demonstrated that the sling he uses is identical to the Chachapoya sling. The documentary credited the theory to Professor Dr. Hans Giffhorn. Dr. Giffhorn worked 35 years at reputed German Universities until his retirement. He always focused on interdisciplinary research and combined this with the production of TV-documentaries. The PBS documentary was not his, however, and he distances himself from some of the information in that film. It was based on partly obsolete hypotheses, contains some grave mistakes, and was neither made nor controlled by him. Also, he has adjusted his theory as new evidence has come to light. Sadly for me, one of the first casualties has been evidence supporting the Carthaginian connection to Chachapoya. The evidence Professor Giffhorn found refutes established paradigms especially maintained by leading peers of the international archaeological scientific community. Advised by some archaeologists, he and his partners decided to choose an unconventional way of publishing the results: all at one time in one book, and written in a way that is also attractive for non-experts. His book, Wurde Amerika in der Antike entdeckt? (Was America Discovered in Ancient Times?), contains hundreds of sources, mostly peer reviewed literature. However, much detailed or very recent information has not yet been published, but provided by international authorities, mostly archaeologists. Their statements and the whole research have been documented professionally on video, as well as a major portion of this evidence, which consists of artifacts in museums and archaeological sites.

Objectives: Inca imperial strategies of political and territorial expansion varied across conquered regions depending on local ecology and cultural resistance, and Chachapoya peoples in Peru's for-ested northeastern Andes were renowned for their rebellions against the invaders. The cliff tombs of Los Pinchudos (AD 1470–1535) present opportunities to use stable isotopes to: (1) explore dietary and mobility patterns from a mortuary community interred at a site attributed to the poorly-known Chachapoya culture during the period of Inca domination, and (2) explore the origins of the individuals as either local or foreign (Inca). Using biochemical tracers, we can help resolve the impact of foreign influence and changes in population and social structure during imperial occupation. Materials and Methods: While it is difficult to reconstruct individual life histories from incomplete skeletons, stable isotopic analysis of multiple skeletal tissues provides a direct means of characterizing diet and residential mobility. Values of stable carbon (d 13 C), nitrogen (d 15 N), and oxygen isotope (d 18 O) ratios were determined in bone and dentine collagen and bone and enamel carbon-ate from 28 samples (11 paired tissues) from males, females, and juveniles from Los Pinchudos. Results: Dietary signatures are consistent with a mixed but more C 3-based plant and protein-based diet with moderate proportions of terrestrial animals. Oxygen isotopic values demonstrate limited variation between paired tissues, with a few possible nonlocal individuals buried in one particular tomb at the site. Compared to other Andean areas that underwent imperial domination, these data do not demonstrate expected dietary shifts. Discussion: These are the first isotopic data from a Chachapoya site and our research shows evidence for minimal non-local presence in this commingled burial assemblage. The regional diet reconstructed at Los Pinchudos (2850 masl) focused on resources of higher altitude tuber crops, beans, and grains (C 3) and terrestrial protein rather than on lower elevation grasses such as maize (C 4) as in other highland Andean regions under Inca control. During imperial domination, inhabitants of this region appropriated Inca materials goods but continued to construct tombs in the local manner even though a potentially diverse population was occupying them.

The pre-Columbian Andes are renowned for agricultural terrace systems in areas of steep terrain. Most studies have concentrated on regions characterized by seasonally-variable limited precipitation, yet research in high-precipitation and cloud-forest regions of the North and Eastern Andes demonstrates the diversity of terrace technologies adapted to different landscapes. This paper presents research from survey, excavation, and digital modeling of three types of well-preserved agricultural terraces found in a 50 km2 area in central Chachapoyas, northeastern Peru. These terrace types—which we refer to as linear segmented, contour, and sinkhole—were all comprised entirely of earth, not stone. Results from digital modeling using ArcGIS hydrology tools indicate different manners through which each terrace type structured the movement of water over the ground surface, supporting previous arguments that similar earthen terrace infrastructure in Colombia, Ecuador, and eastern Peru were likewise designed to manage runoff drainage rather than support irrigation.

In early 17th century historical descriptions, Garcilaso de la Vega describes the Chachapoya people of Peru as “very brave”, “the men well-formed and the women extremely beautiful”.  While the archaeological remains cannot address the veracity of these statements, the analysis of the skeletal remains from important Chachapoya complexes, such as Kuelap, provide the only direct means of reconstructing a biological profile of these ancient people, including aspects of their physical morphology, health, diet, and mobility. Kuelap is one of the largest sites in the area and the mortuary contexts are diverse, including individual burials, collective tombs, and secondary deposits, yet the preservation of skeletal materials is good. These preliminary osteological data synthesize the skeletal collection from Kuelap observed to date (n=589), including partial and complete individuals. Here we highlight the estimated age-at-death profile, stature estimates, patterns in cranial modification, and patterns in traumatic injuries in order to model the physical nature and local biology of the Chachapoya peoples compared to others in the region and the broader Andes.

Chachapoya bioarchaeological investigations on the eastern slopes of highland Peru are beginning to elucidate patterns in diet and social interactions in this distinctive region. We examine the importance of local ecology and subsistence strategies in this environment by analyzing stable isotope data from the monumental archaeological center of Kuelap. Samples from the Late Intermediate Period (AD 800-1470) and Late Horizon (AD 1470-1535) allow us to consider change over time. Using a sample of 75 individuals, we explore dietary patterns using stable isotopic analysis of carbon and nitrogen in tooth dentine and bone collagen and carbon from enamel and bone apatite. Carbon and nitrogen isotopic compositions of bone collagen from faunal remains of domestic and wild animals provide important ecological and dietary baselines. Tooth samples average-13.4‰ (δ 13 C col) and +8.5‰ (δ 15 N) and bone samples average-12.9‰ (δ 13 C col) and +7.9‰ (δ 15 N). Carbon isotope compositions from carbonate average-7.08‰ for teeth and-7.32‰ for bone. Data suggest a mixed diet of both C 3 and C 4 resources and some regular inclusion of domesticated animals. There appears to be a significant shift towards more C 3 plant resources, which may reflect a shift in subsistence strategies or the socio-political impact of Inca occupation. Animal baseline data indicate that camelids likely also exploited variable resources across altitudinal ecozones, perhaps moving in caravans or being foddered with specific C 4 plants. We propose that most individuals at Kuelap were locally derived and exploited a broad range of ecozones across the distinctive elevations in the region.

In this paper, we investigate the anthropological aspects of the ancient Egyptian mummy Cairo CG 61076 found in the royal cachette of Deir el-Bahari (DB 320) and labelled as "Baqt" by reassessing the published literature and photographs and producing a facial reconstruction. As she is dated in the late 18 th Dynasty and shows close morphological resemblance to female Royals from the Amarna period, she might well be one of the daughters of Akhenaton and Nefertiti (e.g. Meritaton or Ankhesenamun) or the enigmatic Baketaton. South American Mummies-an Overview The Meta-review study presents an overview of mummies in South America, arranged by country and museum, and gives a brief summary of the state of research. In comparison to Egypt, the mummies of South America often offer much more scientific potential because they have been studied less intensively.

Historically and cross-culturally, communities have intentionally utilized vertical spaces, mountain peaks, and cliffs, frequently as sacred places and burial sites (Erickson 2006; Knabb et al. 2015; Man 1991; Reinhard and Ceruti 2005). In times of rapid deforestation and environmental change, more archaeological sites, ABSTRACT Most archaeological practice involves horizontal excavations of ancient occupations and cemeteries, but the Chachapoya of Peru's eastern montane built tombs along narrow cliff ledges, which require innovative methods of investigation. Many of these sites are becoming exposed and threatened due to increased deforestation. The La Petaca mortuary complex includes 125 constructed platforms, modified ledges, mausoleums, and caves containing human remains across one section of an exposed rock face approximately 200 m across by approximately 80 m high. While the site has been looted and damaged due to various taphonomic processes (including ecological, geological, and cultural), we argue that there are recoverable details, especially in relation to how the ancient Chachapoya people created and accessed these vertical spaces. Through collaboration with technical professionals, we identified and documented many tombs using vertical progression techniques. This valuable partnership between spelunkers and archaeologists allowed us to develop techniques for "vertical archaeology," including safe access in order to be able to document, sample, and make detailed observations of building methods and burial contents. La mayoría de los cementerios antiguos se encuentran en emplazamientos sin dificultad de acceso, donde se excavaron tumbas para depositar los restos mortuorios. Sin embargo, los Chachapoyas de la región serrana oriental del Perú construyeron sus tumbas en acantilados escarpados de muy difícil acceso. Muchos de estos sitios están expuestos y en peligro a causa de la creciente deforestación. En el complejo mortuorio de La Petaca encontramos 125 mausoleos y cuevas con restos humanos, conectados entre sí por medio de plataformas construidas en madera y salientes rocosos modificados. La Petaca ocupa un área de más de 200 metros de longitud por 80 metros de altura de la sección de un acantilado muy expuesto de roca caliza. A pesar de que el sitio arqueológico ha sido saqueado y dañado debido a diversos procesos tafonómicos (incluyendo procesos ecológicos, geológicos y culturales), sostenemos que hay datos recuperables utilizando técnicas especializadas. A través de la colaboración con técnicos de acceso y posicionamiento con cuerdas, hemos podido acceder e identificar muchas de las construcciones. Esta valiosa alianza entre arqueólogos y técnicos de acceso por cuerdas ha permitido desarrollar la especialidad de una arqueología en espacios verticales. Esta comprende, entre otras cosas, temas relacionados con la elección de anclajes que causan un mínimo impacto en estos emplazamientos tan sensibles y el acceso y posicionamiento seguro para que los técnicos e investigadores puedan llevar a cabo sus trabajos de mapeo, tomar muestras y realizar observaciones detalladas tanto de las técnicas arquitectónicas como de los contenidos de las tumbas. including these, are being exposed and are in danger of becoming damaged or lost if archaeologists are not willing to become more proactive. However, work in these contexts often requires new methods and training in order to document and acquire data

regarding Imperio's history of occupation and particularly the site's special functions. The imagery enabled identification of subtle surface features that we suggest could be overlooked and inadvertently destroyed during conventional ground-level mapping and documentation activities in such complex, overgrown terrain. Many such features are functional elements of a planned drainage system that warrants further study for long-term conservation planning.